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Asahi Bussan
Asahi Bussan G.K.'Bibliography I: abbreviated company name in latin letters (旭物産 , ''Asahi Bussan Gōshi-Kaisha Bibliography II: full company name in latin letters) was a Japanese distributor based in Tokyo's neighbourhood Kyōbashi which belongs beside Ginza and Nihonbashi to the oldest commercial districts of Japan's capital.Bilbliography II: The address of Asahi Bussan in late 1937 was No.1, 8 chome Nishiginza, Kyobashi, Tokyo, Japan (some experts would Write: Kyōbashi-ku Nishi Ginza 8–1) The company distributed the Olympic cameras from 1934, and introduced the Super Olympic in 1935 or 1936, Japan's first 35mm camera with leaf shutter. Some sources say that the cameras were made by a company named Olympic Camera Works, but this might be a generic name (see Camera Works) usually used for advertising purpose only, but in this case even for badging the Olympic bakelite cameras as made by that company. The cameras were either manufactured in Asahi Bussan's own factory, or by a third-party supplier named Olympic Camera Seisakusho or K.K. Olympic CameraBibliography III: The name "K.K. Olympic Camera" is given by Arimura but this article of IR Magazine and this article of the Riken News bulletin say "Olympic Camera Seisakusho" (オリンピックカメラ製作所) instead. or unknown, or miraculously even made by a real company Olympic Camera Works. In the mid-1930s the company also marketed the Asahi Field Camera''Bibliography I: source shows a common wooden field camera, probably an rebadged quality product of a small camera makers' workshop. as well as ''Olympic enlargers and Olympic tripods. In 1937 new cameras were added to the company's portfolio, the Semi Olympic as a new product of the Olympic's original manufacturer, the Vest Alex probably just badged as a new original Olympic with the name Regal Olympic, and Semi-Adler cameras. In 1937, the company was bought by Riken Kankōshi (predecessor of Ricoh), together with the manufacturing facilities of the Olympic bakelite cameras. This alltogether was reorganized as Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō in 1938. The same year, Riken Kankōshi got the new name Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō, which appeared as distributor name instead of Asahi Bussan. Cameras distributed by Asahi Bussan * Olympic * Super Olympic * Semi Olympic * Vest Olympic and Regal Olympic * Adler Notes Bibliography * '''I. Advertisement by Asahi Bussan G.K. in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1937, London. p.668. (By its very nature, the 1937 Almanac was published at the end of 1936, the ad probably prepared amidst 1936, see http://www.the-forum.com/EPHEMERA/ALMANAC.HTM.) }} * II. Advertisement by Asahi Bussan Gōshi-Kaisha in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938, edited by Arthur J. Dalladay, published by Henri Greenwood & Co., Ltd., London. Pp.694–5. (By its very nature, the 1938 Almanac was published at the end of 1937, the ad probably prepared amidst 1937.) * III. Arimura Katsumi (有村克巳). "Rikō Ryakushi" (リコー略史, Ricoh short history). Pp.6–7. Links In Japanese: * History of Ricoh in the September and October 2002 issue (Vol.57) of IR Magazine * History of Riken Kankōshi and its links with the Riken institute, in the June 2000 issue (N°228) of the Riken News bulletin published by the Riken Institute Category:Japanese distributors